VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“Support from Russian citizens has always helped us, and I’m confident that the government’s future line-up will rely on the people. We must never forget about the needs of ordinary people. We must always remember how government-level decisions influence the lives of all ordinary Russian citizens.”
“The work of bringing gas to the Far East is already under way. Yet it can be rightfully said that today we are giving a start to a major and large-scale effort to extend the country's Unified Gas Supply system eastwards. This project (the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline) will open a new page in the development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, breathe energy into the growth of these regions and make them more attractive and competitive. And, first and foremost, to improve the quality of life for Far Easterners and Siberians.”
“The construction of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline is only part of the state's sweeping Eastern Gas Programme. I am certain that even specialists who are present here today do not know all about the scale of this work. Within this programme, we are to undertake a vast amount of geological exploration in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region, in Sakhalin, Yakutia and Kamchatka, to discover dozens of deposits, provide them with field facilities practically from scratch and put them into operation, and bind them together with a network of roads and gas pipelines.”
“Distribution markups will be regulated by the constituent entities, as before, but based on the methods approved by the Federal Tariff Service. This will help exclude useless intermediaries from the supply chain. If a company violates pricing regulations, it will bear responsibility, up to losing its license.”
“The prices of medicines rose by 18.3%, much more than the prices for other goods and services. Moreover, in the regions, the price of one and the same drug can vary by as much as two to three times. All this indicates a lack of order here. <…> I think we should tighten state regulation in this sector. Producers will have to prove the need to revise prices of vital medicines, and federal bodies of authority should develop an effective procedure to oversee and verify their calculations, and be given the authority to refuse the registration of inflated prices.”
“I would like to stress once again that within the context of the financial crisis and the budget deficit, we are, essentially, taking an unprecedented step in the social sector: we are raising pensions. No one else is doing this, no one. It is also vital that we guarantee wages in the public sector, that we pay benefits and provide pharmaceuticals for pensioners and disabled. High-tech medical support will not be forgotten, nor will support for modern educational centres, or housing programmes. Let me add that the allocations for social policies in 2010 will increase by more than 10%.”
“Regarding the deficit, this as I said, will amount to 3.2 trillion roubles in 2010 or 7.5% of our GDP. There is no doubt that we can find the funds to cover it. However, I should tell you directly that this is the maximum deficit that we can allow ourselves without harming our macroeconomic stability. <……> I repeat: we must strictly adhere to the decrease of the budget deficit planned for the period 2011-2012. Correspondingly, we will try to move to a deficit of 4.3% in 2011, and 3% in 2012.”
“Over 70% of the 2010 budget expenditure has been clearly earmarked for social programmes. These resources will go towards supporting people's income, and providing them with vital services.”
“We do have a choice about how we deal with this deficit. What are the alternatives? Either we have an abrupt, dramatic reduction in expenditure, or we accept the deficit, but look for additional sources of income, and find reasonable ways of making up for the shortfall. I think there is a stronger case for the latter, and that this is a more viable direction for the country today. It is also in line with the socio-economic policy of social justice, which is a policy we have pursued in recent years. It is, of course, imperative that we fulfil the promises we made to our people, the plans for economic development.”
“We must reorganise budgetary expenditure for 2010, and many projects will have to be cancelled or delayed until a later date. But all the key priorities linked to investments in human resources and in the innovation sectors of the economy must be retained.”
“Economic conditions are very uncertain. But we need to take this uncertainty into consideration, and at the same time understand that we will have to pursue a tight and highly responsible budgetary policy in the next few years. In particular, we must gradually reduce the budget deficit (I will speak about that later), limit the growth of budgetary expenditure, and increase the payoff from each invested rouble. These are the bases of macroeconomic stability and successful post-crisis rehabilitation of the economy.”
“In the draft budget for 2010, we must find an optimal balance for resolving simultaneously a whole number of objectives. First, we must secure the improvement of living standards for the senior generation and modernise our pension system. As you know, a considerable sum of more than 600 billion roubles has been appropriated for these purposes. <…..> Second, we must actively continue using the instruments of enhancing demand for domestic products, which have proved their worth, such as leasing, subsidies for interest rates on loans, and support of exports. Third, we should not forget about the goals of long-term development, programmes for modernising the infrastructure, and support for the high-tech industries. As you know, only yesterday we had a general discussion on supercomputer technology at the Security Council.”
“In 2010, we intend to improve, albeit modestly, the main macroeconomic indicators, achieve a positive growth of the GDP, industrial production, and agriculture, as well as stabilise real incomes of the population. In a word, we are planning to switch to post-crisis development.”
“Gaz de France is our long-term, reliable and stable partner, one of the biggest European energy companies. We know about the level of your competence in gas liquefaction, and are interested in cooperating with you in this and in other directions - transportation, electric power, and renewable energy sources. On the whole, energy industry is a major component of our cooperation with the French Republic. In this context, we are pinning great hopes on cooperation with such European grandees as GDF.”
"We took the fundamental decision to develop high-level timber processing in Russia. We announced these plans long ago, we set them out, and our partners recognise this. We will accommodate our traditional partners. However, I would like to stress again that the strategic plans to develop timber processing within the Russian Federation remain unchanged. And that means that we must agree in due course about how we will go forward and how we will build our relations in this sensitive area."
"Should the Finnish Government make a decision regarding the future development of nuclear energy, Russian companies would be interested in participating in the relevant tenders. And I do not doubt that the bids put forward by them will be competitive in their financial and technical criteria, and in terms of safety requirements."
"In this regard, I would like to mention, first and foremost, the organisation of high-speed passenger train links between St Petersburg and Helsinki, which aims to cut the journey time to 3.5 hours. On the Russian side, this project is being implemented under a public-private partnership. Its overall cost is around $2.5 billion, over a third of which is allocated from budget resources. The positive experience accrued here could be successfully applied to other areas of cooperation."
"The crisis did not shake Russia off course for its future integration into the global economy. I am certain that Russia's imminent accession to the WTO and the OECD, on mutually acceptable, non-discriminatory conditions, will promote increased stability in global trade and economic systems."
"The most important one being the clearly expressed mutual desire for the expansion of our partnership. We are united on the fact that it is vital to create an environment that is as favourable as possible to joint business initiatives, industrial cooperation, and joint investment streams. Moreover, we have something to start from. Last year we attained a record trade turnover of more than $22 billion. Russia became Finland's most important partner, ranking first in terms of trade."
"High technologies certainly dominate our bilateral relations. This directly concerns energy industry. Russian companies are among Finnish thermal power plants' suppliers. Our partnership is quite smooth in electric energy in general, and has good prospects in nuclear energy."
"Open-hearted neighbourly relations have taken shape between Russia and Finland, and between their populations, within the preceding decades. There relations are surely a value to be cherished and protected. If problems arise in the private sphere-in families, they can be put up with, and the people concerned should get help. It is inadmissible, however, to involve public services and servants in such controversies."
"Today we must adapt trade and economic contacts to the global economic realities. We must concentrate on the most advantageous directions of our cooperation, such as energy, transport, the timber sector, and a range of arctic technologies, including ship building. Maybe, the latter should come first. The energy sphere includes supply of hydrocarbons, nuclear power engineering, the power plant industry, renewable energy sources, and so on."
"Allow me to recall that during Mr Prime Minister's visit to Moscow, duties on exports of rough wood were frozen at the request of the Finnish side. We also met our Finnish partners halfway and reopened the Torfyanovka international checkpoint to commercial vehicle transport traffic. There are other examples of mutual concessions."
"The situation in the global economy is far from simple, and we feel the effects of the crisis in our countries. However, I would like to say that our cooperation is a factor that helps us to stand up at the time of trial. Look at our energy cooperation: Russian partners provide everything the Finnish economy needs regularly, on time and in the required amount. I am referring to oil, gas, coal, electricity and chemicals."
It is the Russian Government's duty to organise production implying large added value. Our Government does not differ from any other Government in the world in this respect-which does not mean that we can act spontaneously, be unpredictable, make headlong moves, and damage our long-established partners.
"Allow me to recall that the federal budget has allocated a total of 64.7 billion roubles for this programme, out of which 8.9 billion roubles were transferred last year, and another 55.8 billion roubles will be provided for this year. I would like to emphasize this year's increase to 55.8 billion compared with last year's 8.9 billion despite the ongoing crisis. This is enough to fully resolve the problem."
"As we have pledged, by May 1, 2010 all war veterans requiring better housing conditions should be provided with flats. I would like to inform you that we have decided to improve considerably the terms of granting housing. Today, in calculating the funding, we proceed from the quota of 22 square meters per capita, whereas subsequently we will apply a higher standard - 36 square meters per capita."
"Yesterday I announced that I had signed a Government Resolution on allocating 25 billion roubles, or some $700 million, to VAZ. We did it in coordination with Renault and in a way that would not undermine the foreign partner's position and share in the joint venture. I believe this is very important during the current crisis. We also see that our partners, in this case Renault, also understand the situation."
"This is a good project, with over $200 million of investment, 50,000 cars and 750 new jobs. Moreover, it has the capability to increase production several-fold, to 500,000 cars, without increasing its production area. The company is so far using only one-third of the land plots allocated to it in the city. However, the decision to increase production will depend on the market situation."
"The Russian Government will continue to support any investment, but above all direct investment and especially investment in high technology, new ideas and innovation projects."
"As I have said, I am pinning great hopes on the expansion of Magna's presence - in particular, on sharing a part of its knowhow with Russia. I hope it will tell on Russian industrial production."
"The troubleshooting plan proposed by such an influential company as Magna has been recognised as the best possible option for investors and, even more so, for Opel employees in Germany and other countries. That is essential. I am interested in it, to an extent, because Opel has two plants in Russia."
"As for purchasing Opel stock, I want to make it understood from the start that the Russian Government is not directly involved but approves Sberbank's participation in the transaction. This is primarily because Sberbank is one of the largest creditors of the Russian automotive industry and has long-established contacts with it."
"VEB loans made it possible to prevent selling cheaply strategic Russian industrial assets which had been mortgaged abroad. We earmarked $50 billion for the purpose initially but we made do with $10.5 billion, and even that sum has been partly paid."
"The bank started funding the 21st new project. The projects are related to infrastructure development, high technologies, and new industrial plants - in particular, the modernisation of Siberian and Far Eastern railways; the establishment of technology parks in Tatarstan and the Kaluga Region; the reconstruction of several power plants, and work in the entire energy industry. The bank also joined the investors in Olympic construction in Sochi."
"Oil and gas producing companies have indicated several times that without guaranteed access to pipelines they will not be able to foster the rational use of transit gas. I think that such a guarantee will appear. But that means that in the near future, let us say by 2012, we must realise our plans for the amount of gas burnt in flares not to exceed 5%."
"When considering the future development of the consumer industry, we must give ourselves real, achievable aims, carefully weighing up our options, and not knowingly making promises that we cannot fulfil. I will now identify what I consider to be two key problems. The first is the struggle against illegal imports, a problem I mentioned earlier, and black market production. To this day counterfeit production occupies 40% of the market. Here I am also including smuggled goods. it's vital to implement several major investment projects in the sector, modernise consumer industry enterprises with the latest technology, which will allow a significant increase in production quality and will also gradually enable domestically produced goods to regain their prestige in the eyes of consumers in this country and abroad."
"Today the consumer industry comprises a healthy core of several dozen major enterprises and hundreds of small and medium sized companies, which have found their market niche, developing their production of goods for which there is a demand, including for children and young people."
"Despite the difficult situation with budget revenues, state support programmes will continue to be implemented in 2009. 200 million roubles have been set aside for interest rate subsidy on loans for the purchase of raw materials, and 90 million roubles for loans for technological upgrades."
"Russia joining the Convention Concerning International Carriage of Goods by Rail (COTIF). This step will create the conditions for expanding the railway ferry service link between the Russian ports of Baltiysk and Ust-Luga and the German port Sassnitz-Mukran, and in future ports in other European countries. Russian transporters will be able to independently configure their railway routes to the Baltic."
"We attach great importance to the development of inter-parliamentary ties. Only by drawing on the broad support of all political forces in our countries is it possible to develop relations in the positive key, as has always been the case."
"It is therefore vital that, in accordance with the current law, a new competition be held to select the architectural concept and subsequent design work. The fundamental condition of this competition must include maintaining the current construction schedule, since we already have an established budget and a 2011 deadline. Further, the new design will have to be built using the foundation currently under construction."
"We have arranged smooth interaction with natural monopolies, and are negotiating with banks for crediting communal infrastructural construction. As the result, the first land plots can and must be fully equipped for construction within a few months, with an emphasis on building low-rise homes."
"We need to launch new fields of the housing project this year, as we have planned, and start reclaiming vacant and misused federally owned land plots. An ad hoc fund for the promotion of housing construction has been established with this purpose. Active cooperation with the regions has helped the fund to obtain information about approximately a thousand such land plots, with the total area of a million hectares."
"Investment in various housing programmes will amount to 440 billion roubles in 2009, the money coming from federal, regional and local sources, the Housing Mortgage Crediting Agency, and the Housing and Utilities Reform Fund. If we take capital repair allocations into account, the funding will make record-setting 500 billion roubles."
"Active housing construction belongs to top national priorities. The financial crisis should not make the population bury their plans and aspirations in this sensitive sphere. That is what we proceed from. Those who have intended to buy a flat or build a private house should retain the opportunity."
"In addition, I particularly emphasise that future optimisation of the tax system will remain on the agenda. So, in 2010 the upper income allowance that allows small businesses to move to a simplified system of tax assessment will be increased from 30 to 60 million roubles. Although, as announced earlier, there will be no subsequent indexation. We see this as an anti-crisis measure."
"Strengthening the tax system's incentivising role is as urgent an issue as ever, above all in order to resolve the Russian economy's key problems. This includes increasing the efficiency of natural resource exploitation, introducing energy efficient technology, encouraging innovative solutions in business and supporting companies' modernisation."
"At the same time, we need to securely guarantee the fulfilment of the tax system's fundamental function: ensuring the solvency of the state. For this we need to refine the administration of the tax system and cleanse it of all the well-known tax evasion schemes, which have become ever more sophisticated of late."
"the anti-crisis package included a significant reduction to the fiscal burden on business. I am referring to lowering the tax on natural resources production, profit, small business and so on. In total, this amounts to approximately 700 billion roubles that will remain in the economy."
